As long as there are orchestras, choirs and ambitious festivals to hire them, there will be performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”). On Saturday night, the Lanaudière Festival presented Kent Nagano and the OSM in the 90-minute blockbuster in front of the mandatory packed house and crowded lawn at the Fernand Lindsay Amphitheatre.

Like the performance Nagano oversaw almost two years ago in the Maison symphonique, this one conveyed a high degree of detail. Opening snarls in the cellos and basses were wonderfully incisive, and if I wanted the heartfelt second theme to rise more melodiously (as I did also in 2012), there was a case to made (again) for Nagano’s clarity and restraint. Warring elements were sharply balanced in the development and the coda left us in an uneasy peace.

The massed string sound was warm in the second movement despite the absence of any titled players in the viola section. Parody in the scherzo struck me as underdone, but mezzo-soprano Susan Platts produced exactly the golden tone and transcendent mood required by the Urlicht (“Primal light”) movement. This was our cue to prepare for the apocalypse.

The finale is almost a symphony in itself and Nagano made it seem so, managing its many shifts in mood and colour (including offstage effects) with great assurance. Sometimes the maestro would drop his right hand (whence comes the beat from the baton) and let his left hand (the repository of expression) do the work. Conductor and orchestra, in 2014, know each other well.

There were fine solos (violin, trombone, trumpet) and impressive sectional interludes (noble lower brass). Of course, the final apotheosis (with Platts and soprano Erin Wall aptly highlighting to the texture) was magnificent. This was, after all, the OSM. Yet equally impressive was the plummy and perfectly-in-tune Ensemble Choral du Festival as prepared by Andrew Megill. This is not hard music to sing, but my, what shivers it creates when done just right.

A big ovation followed, quite properly. The dead do not rise to life everlasting every day. The start of the performance was delayed a couple of minutes by a big party of latecomers. There were more after the 20-minute first movement (in this case accommodated by Mahler’s request for a pause). Perhaps Lanaudière should show a little flexibility on the start time. We end up waiting, anyway.

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